Twitter the Great Equalizer

A few weeks ago during #satchat and their live presentation from the Penn Graduate School of Education, I recall a particular comment made by Billy Krakower (@wkrakower) that really resonated…he commented how he as a teacher, was part of a Twitter team made up of a principal @bcurrie5 and now superintendent @ScottRRocco, and yet at the #satchat table, they were all on a level playing field.

As I was crafting an email to send to my staff about a special visitor this week to our school, Marty Keltz (@martysnowpaw), I was really hit by the amazing resume I was sending out. Here is an accomplished individual, an Emmy winning producer as well as company co-founder, whom I love engaging with regularly on chats and ideas, and here he is asking to come for a visit to my school. I, of course, was truly excited to welcome Marty and I find him fascinating, yet when I step back and think about it, how astounding it is to have this marked individual seeking to come to us. Additionally adding a Google Hangout with author Jena Ball (@JenaiaMorane)

This is what is amazing about Twitter….it does not matter if you are a first year teacher, 20-year veteran, or an administrator at the building level or district level…on Twitter we are all just people who think the education of student matters.

When I think of my own Twitter chat team, #edtechchat, I am so privileged to be part of such an illustrious team of educators. They are accomplished in ways that I only yet strive to be, and yet we are a team, and I respect them immensely. With my team of @thomascmurry, @s_bearden, @katrinastevens1, and @ajpodchaski, we are such an eclectic mix that meets many avenues of educational technology, which is what makes us so much fun if I do say so myself. Yet, no matter our path or position, we all have the same passion and that is what fuels our chat and desire to engage others in conversations about #edtech to support students and teachers.

Twitter has been an amazing path for me professionally…I am finding connections and opportunities that continue to astound me. When I stop to think, I really don’t think it all I would be on my path without Twitter. I converse with so many amazing people with so many fascinating backgrounds and positions, and yet we all feel the same connected respect.

So for any educator, new…seasoned, classroom…administrator, come to the level playing field of Twitter. We welcome all, we want to engage, share, collaborate and learn with and from you. You have a voice, and it is just as important as anyone else’s. Come join the Twitter adventure for yourself.

I’ve always wondered just what it is about Twitter that makes it such a great place for teachers to connect. Is it the whole “brevity is the soul of wit” thing with Twitter’s message length length limitation? Is it just the one social network that teachers happened to gravitate toward?

Whatever the reason, I like your characterization of Twitter as a level playing field. So true!

Yes! Good point. I’m slowly getting back into blogging, but always feel the pressure to carefully craft each post/page and “get it right”. But with Twitter, it’s the ease, as you say, of just jumping on and posting that makes it so engaging.

Excellent post Sharon! You verbalized it so well – the power of Twitter is that it levels the playing field and gives people access to the most diverse and incredible sources of expertise! NICE WORK!
Tony